BOSTON – In a lot of ways, the Detroit Pistons frontcourt seems ill-fated and unintelligently assembled. In no world should Josh Smith spend so much time at the 3-point arc, especially when spacing would be nice for interior focal points Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. Wouldn’t it be nice, for example, to see how Drummond might do while surrounded by a stretch 4 and three other perimeter marksmen? Wouldn’t it be nice if, say, Stan Van Gundy coached Drummond and knew just to spread the floor?

But against the Boston Celtics, the formula of super-freak big + super-skilled big + really athletic dude who can’t shoot but for some reason launches triples anyway = success. The Celtics are 0-2 against Detroit this season, allowing an average of 53 points in the paint per game.

“They’re so big. I mean, they’re huge,” head coach Brad Stevens said. “And they’ve given us problems because of that. Now they’re playing (Kyle) Singler at the 2 and Singler’s a really good player. He can post, he can cut, he’s a hard-driving guy. He’s just a big guy for a typical 2-guard to guard. (Brandon) Jennings had a great game against us and made huge shots, tough shots, on both Avery (Bradley) and our other guards last game. And then Smith, Monroe and Drummond are as big a front line as there is. And we’ve struggled with it. To be honest, we’ve struggled with it.”

As Stevens suggested in other words, Jennings stopped being affected by the laws of physics during his last meeting with the Celtics. The point guard notched 28 points and 14 assists, leading a comeback from 21 points down. He drilled a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left to put Detroit ahead by one. The advantage held when Jeff Green missed a contested running layup at the buzzer.

“It makes it more difficult (when Jennings hits outside shots), obviously. By percentages it’s not the best 3-point shooting team in the league, but when he’s hitting those shots – which he can get going, and he can get going in a rhythm," Stevens said. "We’ve all seen the games, both on replay and then in front of our face here on the second (meeting), where he really does get it rolling. We guarded him really well twice in the fourth quarter last game, and he just basically raised up and shot it basically with us right there in his air space. He can make tough ones.

"Those aren’t the ones that ultimately beat you, I think. Those are the ones that may take the wind out of your sails. The things that beat you with this team are the lobs and angles at the rim, the offensive rebounds. And they’ve done it twice against us. It’s easier said than done. They make you help on the post isolations because they’re so big with their size, so everybody’s got to sink and drop. You might be blocking out a guy twice your size. You just have to not let him get it.”

Rondo not likely to play back-to-back

After speaking with Rajon Rondo and trainer Ed Lacerte, Stevens still doesn’t know whether his star point guard will play in the second leg of a back-to-back later this week. (Hold your birthday party jokes, please.)

“My guess is probably that he will not play,” Stevens said. “It’s really more how he feels the day after a game. Yesterday I asked him, ‘Are you sore? Are you tired? How do you feel?’ And he’s still a little bit sore the day after games. Obviously when we have these 48 hours, instead of 24 hours, he can recover. It’s just another day to get his body right. That’s at least the thought, but it will be more his call than anybody else’s. He knows his body better than any of us.”

Stevens was asked about the possibility of playing Rondo in the second leg (Wednesday against New York) rather than the first (Tuesday in Indiana).

“I’ve always thought that you play the first one, and then if you can’t play the second one, you can’t play the second one. But I haven’t even thought about that, to be honest.”

“We’ll see how tonight goes, from that standpoint. His 10-day’s up at midnight tonight. Like I said I think it was yesterday, I’d really like to have him around. Again, we’ll see how tonight goes. All indications are that everybody feels that way within our organization.”

Wallace has played through pain for a long time

Standing on crutches in the locker room, Gerald Wallace addressed the Boston media before the game. I only caught the tail end of the conversation because I was talking to some Pistons about Coach 'Sheed, but he plans to spend the rest of the season with the Celtics, rehabbing with trainer Ed Lacerte.

He also apparently said his two injuries, for which he underwent season-ending surgery last week, have been an issue for quite some time. Like, more than a decade:

#Celtics Gerald Wallace: Ankle bothering me last 2.5 years, knee has been issue since high school. Meniscus may have partially torn awhile.